Weapons deliveries: What are Ukraine's demands and what could they get? | DW News

Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany Oleksii Makeiev told DW Monday that there was no official demand from Kyiv to Berlin to provide fighter jets from Germany, despite some voices in Kyiv calling for warplanes. "We didn't put any request to Germany about fighter jets yet," Makeiev said. When asked if such a request would come in the future, the envoy said it would "depend on the situation on the battlefield. Russia launches a lot of missiles towards Ukrainian cities, towards infrastructure, and the jets are part of our air defense efforts," the Ukrainian ambassador said.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has ruled out any possible deliveries of fighter jets to Ukraine, as he believes it could lead to a wider conflict between NATO and Russia. Although Germany is reluctant to send jets, the Netherlands has reportedly said it would consider sending F-16 fighters to Ukraine if the country's government makes a request. The US, Ukraine's key backer, remains tight-lipped on sending F-16s to the country.

"My priorities as ambassador here from the very beginning were armored vehicles, main battle tanks and air defense systems, and artillery units. And we are progressing very good on all priorities," Makeiev said. He added that Ukraine will continue talking to the German government on those four priorities. He also contradicted a recent request by his outspoken predecessor, Andrij Melnyk, who during the weekend called on Germany to supply submarines. "We don't need submarines and cruisers and other UFOs from Germany," Makeiev said. Melnyk, who is now Ukraine's deputy foreign minister, tweeted Saturday that the "world's best" submarines could be used to "kick Russia's fleet out of the Black Sea."

The push for jets comes after Germany caved into public pressure and greenlit the delivery of Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, following weeks of deliberations. Makeiev said Western nations need to speed up their decisions on helping Ukraine, as lives hang in the balance.

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[Bangladesh_Lost_Democracy]

Whatever the weapon, we wanna to see the victory of Ukraine

[williamdelange]

Sounds familiar? “No, no, no! Well…OK then”

[maninredhelm]

Part of the US's reluctance to supply F-16s may be because it's already behind on its deal to supply Taiwan with F-16s. Taiwan needs air power. It has much less use for tanks. If it gets into a tank battle, that means the Chinese have landed and Taiwan has probably already lost.

[Bushodai]

Poland already has. They just did so under the guise of sending "spare parts".

[diazvirdani]

*Russia🇷🇺 still occupied oblast Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhia, Kherson, Crimea.*
Russia must end occupation & peace!!!

[kniespel]

You can ask everybody who know's a little about war :; Ukraine will not resist too much without tanks, aircrafts or helicopters and without long range missiles ! In entire history no one army win only in defence!

[phil_]

"Fighter Jets were never off the table..." 😒

[yorktown]

More Russians commenting on this video than volunteering to fight in Ukraine

[unojayc]

Give them whatever it takes to win, everything.

[andreteixeira]

Swedish Saab Gripen fighters are superior to the F16 and would be better suited to the needs os Ukraine, need much simpler logistics, maintenance crews and short runways. Infortunately, these Gripen Fighters are um much shorter supply. And in this case the F16 must be sent right away.

[DrMrPersonGuy]

More requests than "demands".

[Interglacial_optimist]

Being invaded allows you to demand weapons from the rest of the world.
Does that apply everywhere or just in Ukraine?

[stevinharper]

Biden may have said that but we are not training them on our fighters to not give them some.

[uA-gywk]

France sells fighter jets to Iraq, Argentina and other countries around the world.
Wouldn't it be possible to supply Mirage fighter jets to Ukraine?

[tellyboy]

The slower NATO is in sending military aid, the more likely it will have to go in itself someday.

[matthewbaynham]

Sweden should send the Gripen.

Because Sweden is not in NATO so if Sweden is sending aircraft then it's not NATO who is escalating, although the engines are made in the US.

Plus they are a good match for Ukraine because the air fields in Ukraine are a big target for the Russians but the Gripen can take off from a small dirt road and not even need an airport. Plus they need much less maintenance than any American alternative. So it's a much better match for Ukraine.

[rkg]

Billions of dollars are needed for ukraine war.. who will pay for this... Ukraine should have been neutral and develop

[JimmiAlli]

It is so weird - we will only give you weapons that allow the dragging out of the war. Why are we still after one year worrying about what Russia thinks. Russia is acting with impunity and committing war crimes everyday. Please let Ukraine target Russian cities like Moscow etc. This strategy is ridiculous. We don’t want this drawn out approach.

[PhongNguyen-nzkz]

I think Nato should also allow veterans to volunteer and fly those planes.

[terrygerhart]

Nee tanks ned assurance of ownership of the airspace above. Must be flexible to supply what ever it takes to assure this outcome.